Long-term outlook and predictability key to successful medicines policy for Australia, conference told

A predictable regulatory and reimbursement environment, and a long-term policy outlook are essential if patients are to continue to have access to new medicines, Medicines Australia chief executive Brendan Shaw told a key policy conference in Canberra yesterday.

Speaking at the Third Joint Medicines Policy Conference, jointly staged by Medicines Australia and the Department of Health and Ageing, Dr Shaw said policymakers needed to consider the impact policy signals would have on manufacturers.

“When a company is investing an average of 15 years and A$1.5 billion ($1.58 billion) to develop a medicine, predictability about how regulators, payers and government are going to treat that medicine is important,” Dr Shaw said.